Martin scheduled to be transferred to Craig Hospital near DU

I received an update from Jesse Martin’s father today. In a phone conversation from his son’s hospital room in St. Paul, Minn., Terry Martin said:

— Jesse is making huge gains. He’s walking regularly and continues to welcome visitors from the North American hockey community at Regions Hospital. Today he visited with Detroit native Gordie Roberts, who played 311 games in the WHA and 1,097 in the NHL — a professional career that went from 1975 to 1996.

— Jesse would like to personally update his supporters in the Denver area and has agreed to an informal interview request by yours truly. I’m scheduled to talk to him Saturday afternoon. Please look for our story in Sunday’s paper.

— Jesse still has numbness in both arms. According to his father, he said one hand feels like it has a glove on it, and the other is wearing a wool mitten. His hands are not sensitive to touch.

— Jesse is scheduled to be transferred to Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson St. in Englewood, early next week. Terry Martin said doctors originally said he could do outpatient therapy at Craig’s and live in his DU-area condo with teammate Luke Salazar. But now they want to keep him for a couple weeks. (Craig Hospital is just 2-3 miles from DU.)

“This is a great plan and will give the docs a couple of days to assess where he’s at, and if travel altered his condition any, which is shouldn’t,” Terry Martin said. “Then, after 1 – 2 weeks of in-hospital therapy a decision will be made about letting him go to the condo or not. We believe he will be allowed to do so. And finally, he should return to Edmonton in late November/early December until after Christmas when he would come back to Denver to finish his schooling.”